Exodus 40:17–33
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
We want the freedom of self-expression without the constraints of a fixed design. We want to build our own lives, our own morality, our own reality, using whatever materials we find lying around, and we want to call the resulting shack a palace. But the book of Exodus ends with a thunderous repudiation of all such architectural folly. For chapters upon chapters, God has been giving Moses the most detailed, intricate, and demanding set of blueprints the world has ever seen. Now, at the climax of the book, the blueprints become a building. The final chapters of Exodus can seem tedious to the modern reader. God is teaching His people, and us, a foundational lesson: you build God's house God's way. This passage is the culmination of Israel's deliverance from Egypt. They were saved from bondage not to wander aimlessly in the wilderness, but to become a worshiping people, a kingdom of priests, with God dwelling visibly in their midst.